Year |
Speaker |
|
Info |
|
| 2000 |
Christopher
J. Dodd |
|
Connecticut's senior senator, Dodd was the
youngest person ever elected to represent Connecticut
in the U.S. Senate. |
|
| 2001 |
Rod
Paige |
|
Paige was U.S. Secretary of Education; former
Superintendent of Schools, City of Houston (1994-2001);
and 2001 National Superintendent of the Year. |
|
| 2002 |
John
G. Rowland |
|
Rowland was Governor of Connecticut, president
ex-officio of the University's Board of Trustees
and a former Connecticut member of the U.S. House
of Representatives. |
|
2003
May |
Les
Paine |
|
A reporter and columnist with Newsday Paine
was a member of UConn's Class of 1964. |
|
2003
Dec. |
Franklin
Chang-Diaz |
|
Chang-Diaz is an astronaut and UConn alumnus,
'73 (CLAS). He delivered the first commencement
address at a December ceremony. |
|
2004
May |
John
Rowe |
|
Chair, UConn Board of Trustees and chairman and
chief executive officer of Aetna Inc. |
|
2004
Dec. |
Aryeh
Neier |
|
Neier is
president of the Open Society Institute, a private grant-making foundation. |
|
2005
May |
Eduardo
Aguirre |
|
Director of U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services. |
|
2005
Dec. |
Robert Ballard |
|
Marine scientist , discovered wreck of H.M.S. Titanic in 1985. Head of the Mystic Aquarium Institute for Exploration, Mystic, Conn. |
|
2006
May |
U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro |
|
Representative DeLauro, (D-3rd Dist),serves on the Appropriations Committee, the Labor, Health and Human Services Committee, and The Education Subcommittee. |
|
2006
Dec. |
Robert E. Diamond Jr. |
|
Diamond is president of Barclays PLC and received an MBA from the UConn Business School in 1977. |
|
2007
May |
Main Ceremony: Fay Weldon |
|
British novelist, essayist, and screenwriter. |
|
| School of Fine Arts: Christopher Keen Donovan |
|
Emmy-nominated director and technical director, Class of '69 |
|
| Neag School of Education: Ray Neag |
|
Business leader and philanthropist, Class of 1956 |
|
2007
Dec. |
The December 2007 Commencement ceremony was cancelled due to inclement weather. The scheduled speaker was Charlotte Bunch, Founder & Executive Director of the Center for Women's Global Leadership at Rutgers University. |
|
2008,
May |
College of Agriculture & Natural Resources and Ratcliffe Hicks School of Agriculture: Roger Newton |
|
A 1974 UConn graduate, Newton is managing director of Esperance BioVentures and an adjunct associate professor of pharmacology at the University of Michigan Medical School, and former senior vice president of Pfizer Global Research and Development where he was co-discovered of Lipitor, the single most prescribed cholesterol reducing drug in the world |
|
| School of Business: Denis J. Nayden |
|
A UConn graduate (1976 BA, 1977 MBA), Neyden is managing partner of Oak Hill Capital, a private equity firm and a member of UConn’s Board of Trustees |
|
| Center for Continuing Studies (BGS): Valerie Lewis |
|
Former Commissioner of Higher Education for the State of Connecticut |
|
| Neag School of Education: U.S. Rep. John Larson |
|
Representative Larson, (D-1st Dist) is the fifth-ranking Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives |
|
| School of Engineering: Kevin Bouley and Paul Adams |
|
Bouley is president and CEO of NERAC Inc., of Tolland, a global technology and IP advisory research firm; Adams is vice president of engineering at Pratt & Whitney |
|
| School of Fine Arts: Joseph Volpe |
|
Director of strategic development in Theatre Projects Consultant’s Connecticut office and former general manager of the Metropolitan Opera |
|
| College of Liberal Arts & Sciences: Rebecca Lobo |
|
A UConn graduate (1995, CLAS), Lobo is a women’s basketball broadcast analyst, an author, and a UConn trustee. She was the forward/center on UConn’s undefeated and national champion 1995 women’s basketball team |
|
| School of Nursing: Peggy L. Chinn |
|
UConn rofessor emerita of nursing and internationally renowned nurse theorist |
|
| School of Pharmacy: Samuel Kalmanowitz |
|
Entrepreneur and UConn School of Pharmacy graduate (1961) who started his own community pharmacy in 1963 (Kaye’s Pharmacy in Meriden, Conn.) |
|
2008,
Dec. |
|
|
|
|
2009,
May |
|
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|
|
2009,
Dec. |
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